HOLLYWOOD HILLS, Calif. — E. Roy Smith, a former publisher of The Lima News and publisher of The Gazette for 19 years, died Saturday in Hollywood Hills, California. He was 90.
Smith joined the Orange County Register, Freedom’s flagship publication, in 1946 at age 21 after an accidental introduction to Freedom founder R.C. Hoiles. in the advertising dispatch department. Two years later, he was promoted to advertising manager of The Pampa News in Texas. He became that paper’s publisher in 1951 and was named publisher of The Lima News in Ohio in 1962.
He is survived by wife Lisa Smith of Hollywood Hills, California; former wife Miriam Smith of San Diego, California; children John Smith of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Barbara Elliott of Houston Texas and Leslie Lovell of Dallas, Texas; 10 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
A private service is planned in California.
